Apparatus for the conveying through a path and for recirculating said rods

ABSTRACT

A conveying system for supporting rods in a festoon steamer in which a web of material is suspended in loops upon said rods which are travelling upon a horizontal track, a feed-in mechanism being provided at the entrance of the track for gradually advancing the rods and a second mechanism being operative at the end of the track for discharging one by one the advanced rods.

United States Patent Kiister et a1.

APPARATUS FOR THE CONVEYING THROUGH A PATH AND FOR RECIRCULATING SAID RODS Inventors: Wolfgang K'oster, Bad

Salzuflen-Schotmar; Harald Jentzsch, Brackwede-Quelle, both of Germany Assignee: Stork Amsterdam N.V., Amstelveen,

Netherlands Filed: Mar. 28, 1972 Appl. No.: 238,951

U.S. Cl. 226/107, 34/157 Int. Cl. B65h 17/42 Field of Search 226/107, 104-106;

[451 Nov. 27, 1973 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,540,721 6/1925 Colbert 226/107 1,984,270 12/1934 Hurxthal 226/107 X Primary ExaminerRichard A. Schacher Att0rneyAllen D. Brufsky [5 7 ABSTRACT A conveying system for supporting rods in a festoon steamer in which a web of material is suspended in loops upon said rods which are travelling upon a horizontal track, a feed-in mechanism being provided at the entrance of the track for gradually advancing the rods and a second mechanism being operative at the end of the track for discharging one by one the advanced rods.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDNHYZYIQB I 3774.830

. SHEET 30? 4 1 APPARATUS FOR THE CONVEYING THROUGH A PATH AND FOR RECIRCULATING SAID RODS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention refers to an apparatus for the movement of a row of rods before, on and beyond a track, with rapid downwards feed of the rods, slow traverse of the horizontally arranged track and then their rapid upwards removal, the rods serving for the supports of loops of a web travelling through a treatment chamber.

By means of a conveyor the rods are laid on the track I onto a horizontal track, whereby the upper folds of the V 7 vertical loops which are to be treated with steam, are suspended on the rods. Then the rods traverse the fixed track before the end of .which the strip of material is unwound from the loops. After that the. rods are picked up at the far end of the track by means of the conveyor which passes through under the track and at its end carries the rods away vertically.

In conventional apparatus of this kind a difficulty arises from having to effect the pass of the rods along the track, in that the latter is forced as an endless conveyor belt. In general such a conveyor belt lacks the necessary stiffness, so that during service trouble occurs because the outerends of the rods do not remain on the track.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an important objectof the invention to eliminate this difficulty and to provide an apparatus in which it is assured that the rods can pass through the installation uninterruptedly and efficiently controlled. To this end, an eccentric disc is arranged in front of the beginning of the track the displacement of the circumference of said disc from its axis of rotation varies by an amount which corresponds at least to the dimension of the rods in the direction of travel along the track, an interconnection being provided between the conveyor, and the eccentric disc in such a way that the latter performs one revolution between the feeding of two successive rods. In this way one provides that at each rotation of the eccentric disc all the rods on the track are pushed along by one space.

In order to facilitate the setting down of the rod at the beginning and in addition to prevent rods already there from rolling back before the next rod has been set down, the apparatus is so arranged that the eccentric disc near its smallest radius displays an extension with a recess in which a rod laid at the beginning of the track fits, whereby a nose on the extension prevents rolling back of the preceding rod.

It is understood that with the continuous advance of 2 vancing at that point. In this case the device for picking up a rod might not arrive at the correct moment in front of the track. I

In order to remove these difficulties, a cam or elevation is mounted before the end of the track, against which the advancing rods impinge and which is provided with a thrust member which in step with the eccentric disc slides the rods one after another to the end of the track.

SURVEY OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic elevation of an apparatus in accordance with the invention in a festoon-steamer,

FIG. 2 gives an oblique view of the installation as in FIG. 1, i

FIG. 3 shows schematic elevations of the feed-in devicefor the supporting rods towards the horizontal track according to FIG. 1 in different positions, and

FIG. 4 gives schematic elevations of the discharge device.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT rial feed roll 1 is a slit opening in front of which is a sup} port roll 2. Between the feed roll 1 and the support roll 2 a strip 3 of material can be fed in. The apparatus displays in addition a fixed guide arrangement or track 4, whichconsists of twopairs of rails 4 arranged horizontally with a gap between them, between which the ends of supporting rods 5 fit slidably. These supporting rods 5 are introducedby a feed-in mechanism into the guide 4 at its beginning 6 and carried away from it empty at its far end 7 by a discharge mechanism. The supply is performed by a supporting rod conveyor 8 whichpasses through on a guidesection 8 underneath the guide 4 empty. It is formed of two movable chains spaced apart, which are guided over sprockets 9.

all the rods along the fixed horizontal track the centres of gravity of the rods constantly shift. Because of differences in the pitch between rods on the track the position of the rod to be carried away at the far end of the track is under these conditions not or not always defined. The coupling between the eccentric disc and the conveyor chain is performed at the beginning of the track, so it can occur that because of small differences in length in the chain the latter is not running in synchronism at the far end of the track, with the rods ad- In the position shown in FIG. 1 supporting rod 10 has just come into contact with the strip 3 of material, in order to pick up a formed loop 11 and lift it up to the beginning 6 of the guide 4. As soon as a supporting rod 5 arrives at the guide 4, there hangs between this supporting rod and a supporting rod previously introduced into the guide 4 a loop 12 which advances slowly inthe direction of thefar end 7 of the guide 4. Just before the end 7 the strip 3 of material is unwound at a recovery point 14 and led away over a number of rollers 15.

In FIG. 3 it can be seen that the chain conveyor 8 introduces the supporting rods 5 into the horizontally arranged fixed tracks 4 from above. For transport and for setting down on the track 4 the supportings rods 5 are suspended by studs 16 mounted on them at both ends,

in special carriers on the chain conveyor 8. At each end of the supporting rod 5 there is a conveyor chain 8 and a track 4. The fixed track 4 can, for example, consist of a channel section. Carries in which the supporting rods 5 are suspended from the chain 8, are described in the applicants copending Pat. application Ser. No. 238,871: Apparatus for Forming and Conveying Vertical Loops of a Material in the form of Strip." When such a carrier has arrived at the height of the fixed track 4, the supporting rod 5 concerned remains be- 3 hind on. the track 4 and the chain 8 runs on with the carrier empty.

Each chain 8 is in accordance with the invention coupled to the feed-in mechanism such as an eccentric disc 17 which makes one revolution between the setting down of successive supporting rods. At the instant at which a supporting rod has been set down, the eccentric disc 17 takes up the position shown in the uppermost view of FIG. 3. In this the disc 17 has the radius ameasured horizontally towards the track 4 and the radius b measured horizontally away from the track 4; the radii are such that their difference ba is equal to the diameterof a supporting rod 5.

As indicated by the broken line 18 in the upper view of FIG. 3, the eccentric disc 17 can be basically formed as a rounded cam. However, the eccentric disc 17 preferably has a hook-shaped extension 19 with a nose 1 9 and a recess v19" at the smallest radius a, in which a supporting rod 5 set down on the fixed track 4 fits. The nose 19' prevents the supporting rod 5 which has been set down and moved forwards alongthe track 4 from being able to roll back just before another supporting rod is set down.

It can further be understood from the illustration in FIG. 3 that the chain 8 between the eccentric disc 17 and the fixed track 4 passes through quite close to both these parts. Directly next the chain the upper part at the beginning 6 of the fixed track 4 is open.

The further action of the apparatus follows from the individual views of FIG. 3, in which at the left the rotation of the eccentric disc 17 relative to its position in the top view is in degrees. As one can see, the increasing radius of the eccentric disc 17 with its clockwise rotation has the effect that the supporting rod 5 last set down first of all comes up against the preceding supporting rod and subsequently slides this steadily forwards as well as all the others in the track 4. In the concluding phase the nose 19' comes as a backstop behind the supporting rod last set down, and the recess 19" can accept another supporting rod 5.

How the supporting rods 5 at the end 7 of the fixed track 4 are deflected from this by the conveyor 8 is shown schematically in FIG. 1 and is likewise the object of the above mentioned copending patent application.

' Because the supporting rods are gradually slid forwards by the eccentric disc 17 at the beginning 6 of the track 4, the midpoint or mid-axis respectively of each supporting rod moves continually towards the end 7 of the track. It is therefore relatively difficult with a moving chain conveyor 8 to pick up with exactly the right timing and in the right position respectively, a supportingrod 5 of which the mid-point or mid-axis respectively is moving on horizontally. Between the eccentric disc 17 and the chain conveyor 8 a mechanical coupling can be provided, but the distance between the eccentric disc 17 and the far end 7 of the fixed track 4 is relatively large. Even a small difference in length in the chain conveyor therefore means that the mid-axis of a supporting rod is not very well defined just at the moment when the supporting rod 5 must be picked up by the carrier positively attached to the chain 8.

In accordance with the invention there is a short distance before the end 7 of the track 4 a cam or elevation 20, which prevents the supporting rod 5 from being able to roll right through to the end of the track 4. The distance between the elevation 20 and a stop 21 is such that exactly one supporting rod fits in between them,

4 which in this attitude occupies the correct position relative to the chain conveyor 8.

The supporting rods 5 are now pushed foward over the elevation 20 one after another by means of a discharge mechanism, such as a thruster 22, that for this purpose is moved forward by a short endless belt 23 which is arranged near the elevation 20 under the fixed track 4. The thruster 22 is made L-shaped, with the long arm 24 mounted slidably in a bush 25 pivoted to the track 4, and with the short arm 26'projecting upwards close against the track 4. Near the angle-or-edgepiece 27 between the arms 25, 26 the thruster 22 is hinged to the endless belt 23 which can be driven, for

example, by the chain conveyor 8. The length of the short arm 26 is such that as the angle-or edge-piece 27 moves along the upper horizontal strand of the endless belt 23, it can slide a supporting rod 5 forwards over the elevation 20 on the track 4. On the return the angle-or edge-piece 27 of the thruster moves along the lower strand of the endless belt 23, so that the short arm 26 is moved back under the advancing supporting rods 5. The individual views of FIG. 4 show different stages of this sequence of movement. Thus one sees that the short arm 26 of the thruster 22 when ejecting the furthest forward supporting rod 5 comes up against the stud l6 fixed to the latter at both ends. For the return of the thruster 22 it is therefore sufficient to drop this far enough for the upper edge of the short arm 26 to be able to pass through under the stud 16 of the next supporting rod 5.

It should be observed that the supporting rods 5 can comprise a rod portion 30 of small diameter and have flanges 31 of larger diameter at the outer ends, which cooperate with the track and prevent contact between the loops of the strip 3 ofmaterial. A development of this kind is described in applicants co-pending Pat. application Ser. No. 232,744: Method and Apparatus for Forming and Moving Vertical Loops in a Strip of Material."

What we claim is:

1. An apparatus for the movement of a rowlof rods its beginning, lifted off it at its end, and subsequently I fed back to the beginning of the track again, in which an eccentric disc is arranged in front of the beginning of the track the displacement of the circumference of 7 said disc from its axis of rotation varies by an amount which corresponds at least to the dimension of the rods in the direction of travel along the track, coupling means being provided between the conveyor and the eccentric disc in such a way that the latter performs one revolution between the feeding of two successive rods.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which the eccentric disc near its smallest radius displays an extension with a recess in which a rod laid at the beginning of the track fits, whereby a nose on the extension prevents rolling back of the preceding rod.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, in which before the end of the track a first stop means is mounted,

against which the advancing rods impinge and which is first stop means to a second stop means at the end of the track.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3, in which the thrust member is formed as an L-shaped bar of which one arm is mounted slidably and flexibly on the track, said thrust member being attached to an endless belt arranged below the stop means in such a way that the other arm in the upper strand of the endless belt slides a rod forwards over the elevation, whereas in the lower move forward during the passage of the loops. 

1. An apparatus for the movement of a row of rods before, on and beyond a track, with rapid downwards feed of the rods, slow traverse of the horizontally arranged track and then their rapid upwards removal, the rods being by means of a conveyor laid on the track at its beginning, lifted off it at its end, and subsequently fed back to the beginning of the track again, in which an eccentric disc is arranged in front of the beginning of the track the displacement of the circumference of said disc from its axis of rotation varies by an amount which corresponds at least to the dimension of the rods in the direction of travel along the track, coupling means being provided between the conveyor and the eccentric disc in such a way that the latter performs one revolution between the feeding of two successive rods.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which the eccentric disc near its smallest radius displays an extension with a recess in which a rod laid at the beginning of the track fits, whereby a nose on the extension prevents rolling back of the preceding rod.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, in which before the end of the track a first stop means is mounted, against which the advancing rods impinge and which is provided with a thrust member which in step with the eccentric disc slides the rods one after another from the first stop means to a second stop means at the end of the track.
 4. An apparatus according to claim 3, in which the thrust member is formed as an L-shaped bar of which one arm is mounted slidably and flexibly on the track, said thrust member being attached to an endless belt arranged below the stop means in such a way that the other arm in the upper strand of the endless belt slides a rod forwards over the elevation, whereas in the lower strand it passes through under a subsequent rod which is still in front of the elevation.
 5. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which a strip of material is movable in vertical loops on the supporting rods along the horizontal track for steam treatment in a festoon-steamer, whereby the track displays two rails along which the ends of the rods there at the time move forward during the passage of the loops. 